Bryan Singer and Christopher McQuarrie have joined their talents together again in the 3D action adventure, “Jack the Giant Slayer.” Singer, a 1984 graduate of West Windsor-Plainsboro High School, is director; and McQuarrie, Class of 1986, co-wrote the screenplay.
McQuarrie was on his way to the police academy when former schoolmate Singer offered him the opportunity to write their debut feature film, “Public Access,” winner of the 1993 Sundance Film Festival’s grand jury prize. McQuarrie went on to write and direct “The Way of the Gun,” starring Benicio del Toro, Ryan Phillippe, and James Caan. He also wrote and produced “Valkyrie,” starring Tom Cruise and directed by Singer.
Though Singer won Sundance with his first film, his 1995 film, “The Usual Suspects,” made him famous. The film earned two Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor for Kevin Spacey and Best Original Screenplay for Christopher McQuarrie.
Singer’s third feature film, “Apt Pupil,” featured bits and pieces of WW-P High School, including the green and gold colors, “Welcome Pirates” signs, the pirate as a mascot, and used at least one teacher’s name in hallways conversations — Susan Fiscarelli, who taught history at WW-P. Singer earned the Saturn Award for Best Director from the academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror. There were also “X-Men” films, “Superman Returns,” and others.
Singer, the director and a producer of “Jack,” remembers the story of Jack and the giant from his youth. “What appealed to me about the story then, as now, was how deceptively simple it was, and yet how fantastic and full of potential,” Singer says in production notes. “The impetus for me was to bring a legend to life in a big, physical way. To take what was a childhood abstraction or some illustrations in a storybook and make them real in their full scope and scale, with action and drama and a beanstalk five miles high.
“There’s a lot of scary stuff in the movie, and some shocking moments. The giants are definitely not good guys, and they take obvious pleasure in eating people — head first — but it’s all done with a measure of fun and a wink to the audience,” says Singer. “My aim was to make a film that adults could enjoy while never losing sight of the fact that it’s still based on a story we first learned in childhood and set in a heightened world.” The film has been rated PG-13 for “intense scenes of fantasy action violence, some frightening images and brief language.”
Singer also directed the pilot and was executive producer on the Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning Fox series “House” set at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Hospital. He was also executive producer on the Emmy- and Golden Globe Award-nominated ABC series “Dirty Sexy Money” and on the HBO documentary “Vito.”
McQuarrie, born and raised in Princeton Junction, graduated from high school in 1986 after performing on stage in “Merrily We Roll Along,” “Once Upon a Mattress,” and “Damn Yankees.” He also has gone on to write numerous films and television series. McQuarrie wrote and directed the 2012 release “Jack Reacher,” adapted from the bestseller One Shot, by Lee Child, and starring Tom Cruise.
Both have been honored by the WW-P District as Wall of Honor inductees.
